Artificial denture



Jan. 9, 1968 c. NOWACZYK 3,362,072

ARTIFICIAL DENTURE Filed Sept. 17, 1964 ms. 1 v F152 IN VENTOR CHRISTIANNOUJACZYK ATTORNEYj United States Patent Ofifice 3,362,072 Patented Jan.9, 1968 3,362,072 ARTIFICIAL DENTURE Christian Nowaczyk, 18 Heidestr.,5103 Brand, Germany Filed Sept. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 397,328 11 Claims.(Cl. 32-4) The invention concerns an artificial denture with leversmounted rotatably on both the upper and the lower denture prothesis andwith a spiral spring which has been put on said levers, and connects thelevers of each side of the denture one with the other.

Artificial dentures of this general character are known. They alwayshave a suction surface through which the protheses are held to the gums.It has been found, however, that wearers of such dentures developcertain changes of the mucous membrane, as well as adhesions oratrophies from pressure on their gums which decrease the adhesivecapacity of the palate plates.

Also, it frequently happens that food particles become lodged betweenthe gums and palate plate and form centers of decay which have adisadvantageous eifect with regard to bad breath, metabolism andcondition of surfaces of the gums.

In the case of the known artificial dentures, it is true that upper andlower parts have been connected with springs. However, such knownarrangements only permit to a limited extent desired movements of thejaws, since the ends of the'spring means will merely permit a rotationalmovement in relation to the upper or the lower part. In the case offrequent transverse movements of the jaws, not infrequently breaking ofthe springs will occur. Also, the fit of the parts of the dentures isimpaired.

Patients who have so-called fibromatosis alviolaris, i.e., the jaw bonebecomes softened and merely a soft and spongy tissue remains, can forpractical purposes really not wear such known dentures since they havepractically no firm hold and merely float on the soft tissue.

The present invention, therefore, has for a purpose of solving of thestated problems and to create an artificial denture that can be worn byevery patient. Furthermore, the improved denture while not having apalate plate, nevertheless will provide a firm hold in any kind of jawmovement.

The invention is based on the realization that with a proper arrangementof the spiral spring means between the elements of the denture, thelatter will be able to replace the adhesive force of the denture shapealong the ridge and of the palate plate along the gum.

An outstanding feature of the invention resides in the fact that thelevers have been mounted as driven levers of a spherical or universaljoint on the denture protheses assigned to them, and that the line ofconnection of the bearing sites of the levers will form a gravitationalline of the denture prothesis, the phase gravitational line meaning theneutral transverse axis through the denture.

Thus, the levers are in a position not only to rotate around their ownaxis mounted on the denture, but due to the universal mounting thereofthey can also execute a swing vertically in relation to the firstmovement, that is, they can altogether execute a spherical movement.Since at the same time they engage in a gravitational line in eachdenture prothesis, a small excess pressure of the spiral spring will besufiicient to press the denture prothesis firmly against the ridge ofthe jaw. As a result, the folds of the jaw and of the zygomatic archwill be greatly preserved.

According to one design of the invention, one end of each lever facingaway from the spiral spring has been mounted rotatably and horizontallyin one tooth of the pertinent denture prothesis and the tooth itself hasbeen mounted in the tooth prothesis so that it is rotatable around itslongitudinal axis.

Through this design, a desired spherical movement of the lever inrelation to the pertinent denture prothesis has been provided for in asimple manner. Additionally, in each instance one of the teeth of theprothesis is utilized for the mounting of the lever, and this isadvantageous in that the teeth of the prothesis consist of aparticularly resistant, hard raw material. A further improvement for thepossibility of the spherical movement of the levers will be achievedthrough the fact that the foot of the tooth has the shape of a calotteand is held in a ball cup by means of a ball shaped pressure button, thediameter of said cup being somewhat larger than that of the calotte.

For receiving the levers within the tooth, preferably, round or annularscrew sockets have been provided. It will be advantageous if the spiralsprings have a smooth coating, for example, of polyvinyl chloride, sothat no food particles are likely to stick to said springs.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear,the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by referenceto the following detailed description, the appended claims and theseveral views illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 shows a longitudinal section through a tooth mounting, andillustrates a brass bearing for the tooth and a peg of a pressure buttonwhich can be inserted into the bearing.

FIGURE 2 shows the arrangement of the tooth in the mounting of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 3 shows a longitudinal section through the tooth of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 shows the arrangement of the spiral spring on the artificialdenture according to the invention.

The denture, in accordance with the invention, has two essentialcharacteristics:

(1) The connecting levers engage rotatably and swingably on the denture,especially on a tooth;

(2) The point of engagement of the levers on the prothesis, and thus thepoint of engagement of the force of the spiral spring, is located alongthe transverse neutral axis of each denture.

In order to realize the first characteristic, according to FIGURES 1-3,a tooth 1 has been mounted rotatable around its vertical axis in a ballcup 2 of the prothesis 3. In order to avoid on the one hand a droppingout of the tooth 1 from the ball cup, and on the other hand also to makepossible an easy setting in of said tooth, a peg 5 has been embedded inthe foot of the tooth 7 and said peg is equipped with a sphericalelastic pressure button 4. The pressure button can be inserted into aspherical cavity 6 which had been made on the bottom of the ball cup 2.

As will be apparent particularly from FIGURE 2, the diameter of the ballcup is a little larger than that of the foot of the tooth 7 made in theshape of a calotte. Thus, the tooth 1 can carry out both a pendulummovement as well as a rotation around its own axis.

According to FIGURE 3 the tooth 1 which is made of relatively hard rawmaterial, has a horizontal bore in which a threaded bushing 8 has beenprovided for the reception of a leg 9 of a rectangular lever 10, alsoequipped with a thread.

FIGURE 4 represents a part of a complete artificial denture, inaccordance with the invention, that is to say, a denture consisting ofan upper and a lower element. In each denture prothesis there is a tooth1, as described above, mounted rotatably both on the left and on theright. The levers 10 are connected with spiral springs 11 whichpreferably are equipped with a smooth coating. A coating of polyvinylchloride is an acceptable example.

In accordance with the invention, the threaded bushings 8 of eachprothesis 12, 13, in their state of rest are aligned one with the other,that is to say the points of application of power of the spiral springs11 are along the neutral transverse axis of each prothesis or dentureelement. In order to achieve this, it will be necessary to balance outeach prothesis 12 and 13 correspondingly and, if need be, to provide itwith counter balances.

The artificial denture, because of the rotatable mountingof each tooth1, will permit any kind of movement of the jaw, without the prothesesbeing loosened from the jaw. Because of the fact that the application ofpower of the spiral springs 11 lies along the neutral transverse axis,any kind of adhesive plate becomes unnecessary. Even patients withfibromatosis alviolaris as hereinabove stated, gingiva movens hyperia,or other such similar defects, may effectively wear this novel denture,since it is not necessary any longer to use the jaw bones for adsorptionor suction holding of the protheses.

It should be apparent that the tooth mounting always ofiers enough spacefor receiving an armature without prejudice to the shape of theprothesis and the condition of the mouth.

While a preferred part arrangement has been disclosed herein it is to beunderstood that variations in part structures and arrangements may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An artificial denture comprising a pair of denture elements eachhaving a neutral transverse axis, means normally urging said dentureelements away from each other whereby when positioned in the mouth of auser the denture elements are urged against and held upon the gums,means connecting said urging means to each of said denture elements, andsaid connecting means being each disposed along the neutral transverseaxis of each denture element.

2. The artificial denture as defined in claim 1, and including universaljoint means disposed between said urging means and said dentureelements.

3. The artificial denture as defined in claim 1 including a plurality ofartificial teeth carried by each denture element, said connecting meansconnecting said urging means directly to selected ones of said teethdisposed along the associated neutral axis, and means movably connectingsaid selected ones of the teeth to their associated denture element.

4. The artificial denture as defined in claim 1 including a plurality ofartificial teeth carried by each denture element, and said connectingmeans connect said urging means directly to selected ones of the teethdisposed along the associated neutral transverse axis.

5. The artificial denture as defined in claim 4 wherein said connectingmeans include a transversely directed connecting element carried by eachof said selected ones of the teeth, and said urging means are springshaving ends connected to adjacent pairs of the connecting elements ofeach denture element.

6. The artificial denture as defined in claim 5 wherein means areprovided for mounting said selected ones of the teeth for universalmovement relative to the associated denture elements.

7. The artificial denture as defined in claim 4 wherein universal jointmeans are provided for mounting said selected ones of the teeth foruniversal movement relative to the associated denture elements.

8. An artificial denture comprising a pair of denture elements, aplurality of artificial teeth carried by each denture element, means fornormally urging said denture elements away from each other whereby whenpositioned in the mouth of a user the denture elements are urged againstand held upon the gums, means for directly connecting said urging meansbetween adjacent ones of the teeth of each denture element, and meansmovably connecting said adjacent ones of the teeth to their associateddenture element.

9. An artificial denture comprising a pair of denture elements, aplurality of artificial teeth carried by each denture element, means fornormally urging said denture elements away from each other whereby whenpositioned in the mouth of a user the denture elements are urged againstand held upon the gums, means for directly connecting said urging meansbetween adjacent ones of the teeth of each denture element, saidconnecting means including a connecting element carried by each of saidadjacent ones of the teeth, said urging means being springs having endsconnected between adjacent ones of said connecting elements, eachconnecting element is mounted horizontally and rotatably in itsassociated tooth, and each of said adjacent ones of the teeth aremovably mounted in their associated denture element.

10. The artificial denture as defined in claim 9 wherein universal jointmeans are provided for mounting said movable teeth for universalmovement.

11. The artificial denture as defined in claim 9 wherein said connectingelements are levers and include thread means for connection to anassociated tooth.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5,181 7/1847 Stuart 32-41,831,591 11/1931 Foester 32-4 2,876,540 3/ 1959 Heydenreich 324 FOREIGNPATENTS 485,570 10/1917 France.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

R. E. MORGAN, Assistant Examiner.

1. AN ARTIFICAL DENTURE COMPRISING A PAIR OF DENTURE ELEMENTS EACHHAVING A NEUTRAL TRANSVERSE AXIS, MEANS NORMALLY URGING SAID DENTUREELEMENTS AWAY FROM EACH OTHER WHEREBY WHEN POSITIONED IN THE MOUTH OF AUSER THE DENTURE ELEMENTS ARE URGED AGAINST THE HELD UPON THE GUMS,MEANS CONNECTING SAID URGING MEANS TO EACH OF SAID DENTURE ELEMENTS, ANDSAID CONNECTING MEANS BEING EACH DISPOSED ALONG THE NEUTRAL TRANSVERSEAXIS OF EACH DENTURE ELEMENT.